[Mb-civic] CBC News - WE DO NOT TORTURE: BUSH

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WE DO NOT TORTURE: BUSH
WebPosted Mon Nov  7 10:25:46 2005

---U.S. President George W. Bush is defending the way his administration
interrogates suspected terrorists, denying the U.S. engages in torture.


Bush was being questioned by a reporter on whether he supports the
efforts of Vice-President Dick Cheney. Cheney has been lobbying
Republican senators to allow for a legal exemption to allow torture for
those held by the CIA if preventing an attack is at stake.

The U.S Senate last month approved a ban on torture by a 90-9 vote. The
White House may veto the ban.

But Bush did not address the question about his support for a
torture exemption directly, saying only the administration would
work within the law.

"Our country is at war and our government has the obligation to protect
the American people," Bush said at a news conference with Panama's
President Martin Torrijos.

"And we are aggressively doing that. We are finding terrorists and
bringing them to justice."

"Anything we do to that end in this effort, any activity we conduct, is
within the law. We do not torture."

Bush's comments come days after it was disclosed that the CIA is running
a network of prisons in eastern Europe and Asia, where it holds suspects.



 FROM NOV. 2, 2005: CIA running secret prison system: report

No information is known about the facilities, including who is kept
there, how decisions are made about the detainees and how long they
are detained.

The secret detention system is said to have been conceived in the first
months after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

The White House has not confirmed nor denied the reports. The European
Union is planning to investigate.

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